Safety of Immigrant, Refugee and Non-Status Women Annotated Bibliography

By Ju Hui Judy Han June 9, 2009

1. Research Reports (in chronological order)

Sponsorship... For Better or for Worse: The Impact of Sponsorship on the Equality Rights of Immigrant Women (2001) (246 pages) Funded by the Status of Women Canada’s Policy Research Fund and the Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS) in Toronto. The report criticizes the detrimental effects of the “sponsorship regime,” defined as the constellation of various laws, regulations and guidelines from the federal and provincial governments defining sponsorship, the obligations of sponsored persons and their sponsors.” It discusses misunderstandings of sponsorship, integration barriers, and spousal maltreatment, and concludes that sponsorship “poses the question of the responsibility of the family to ensure the well-being and the socio-economic security of its members in relation to the state.” The report finds that given “the fact that sponsorship involves the undertaking of responsibility for women by the spouse, the fact that the application for permanent residence may be refused if the spouse withdraws his sponsorship and the fact that the access of sponsored women to social assistance is limited by provincial regulations (and remains so for the entire duration of the sponsorship, even after citizenship has been obtained), mean that the equality rights of women immigrants are being violated. Indeed, our research revealed that the sponsorship regime has a discriminatory effect on immigrant women who are sponsored by their husbands in that it exacerbates their unequal status within the marriage, diminishes their dignity and degree of independence, aggravates existing socio- economic disadvantages and violates their most basic human rights.” Based on the legal analysis of the impact of sponsorship as well as comments and suggestions from sponsored women themselves, the report criticizes both the Quebec and American models The Quebec model reduced the sponsorship period from 10 years to 3 years, but did not address issues concerning the withdrawal of sponsorship; the exclusion of sponsored women from undertaking sponsorship agreements and from the sponsorship application process; and the sponsored women’s restricted access to welfare. The American model under which the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) allows self-petitioning for immigrants who are victims of conjugal violence and in the US out of status but does not Safety of Immigrant, Refugee and Non-Status Women, Annotated Bibliography, June 2009 apply, however, to all sponsored immigrant women, resulting in not only a problematic hierarchy of “deserving” vs. “undeserving” immigrants but also promoting a policy that remedies the effects of violence only after it has taken place, without calling into question the basic structure of the sponsorship undertaking.

Instead, the report recommends: reducing the duration of the sponsorship undertaking (this change was implemented in 2001 as part of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act); ensuring that sponsored women have access to social assistance in case of sponsorship breakdown; ensuring protection against withdrawal of sponsorship (or threats to do so) by considering humanitarian grounds over the criteria of financial autonomy; allowing the rescinding of the sponsorship undertaking in cases of conjugal violence so that a sponsored women does not have to maintain contact with the abusive sponsor; and more broadly, respecting the rights of low-income people to family reunification. Available from http://publications.gc.ca/pub?id=293775&sl=0

Intersecting Inequalities: Immigrant Women of Colour, Violence and Health Care (2001) Status of Women Canada, the BC Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health, and the Vancouver Foundation, funded this report by Yasmin Jiwani. It provides an excellent framework for understanding the experience of racialized immigrant women facing intimate violence and their access to the health care system, outlining the impact of structural forces and the barriers that impede women’s access to formal health care. It shows that physicians are often inadequately prepared to respond to patients who have experienced domestic violence, and that physicians’ response to immigrant women who have been abused tend to be influenced by stereotypes about violence within cultural groups. The report avoids “ethno-specific research,” seeing that it can reify cultures as static entities and be used to reinforce entrenched stereotypes of particular ethnic groups. Recommendations of the report emphasize the need for health care providers to be more educated and aware of the health care impacts of violence. Available from http://www.vancouver.sfu.ca/freda/articles/hlth.htm

Canada’s Failure to Act: Women’s Inequality Deepens (2003) (82 pages) The Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) submitted this report to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), with financial assistance provided by the Status of Women Canada. The report clearly outlines the many ways in which Canada is violating the rights of women set out by the CEDAW. In addition to Canada’s failure to effectively address the multiple impacts of racism on Canadian women, the report discusses the entrenched sexist and racist attitudes and treatment of particularly vulnerable groups of women who seek to enter Canada to live and work, many of whom are women of color from developing countries. The impact of immigration and refugee law and policy on these women is outlined in this Report. Available from http://www.fafia-afai.org/en/canadas_failure_to_act_womens_inequality_deepens

2/28 ______The Safety for Immigrant, Refugee and Non-Status Women Project: Ending Violence Association of BC, MOSAIC & Vancouver Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services Society. Funded by the Law Foundation of BC.

Safety of Immigrant, Refugee and Non-Status Women, Annotated Bibliography, June 2009

CRIAW Fact Sheet: Immigrant and Refugee Women (2003) (12 pages) This Fact sheet was created by the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW), which is based in Ottawa Ontario. The fact sheet clearly states that immigration policy affect women differently, explaining how sponsored immigrant and refugee women, mail-order brides, and domestic live-in caregivers are especially vulnerable to abusive relationships. For example: Regulations placed on family class (sponsored) immigrants can make it difficult for them to receive social assistance and old age security, as well as limit their access to social housing and job training programs. Not only does this deny immigrant women the services they need, it also means they are forced to rely on men whether they want to or not. This can result in women and children living in abusive situations. The fact sheet also includes a section on myths & facts (myths including “immigrant and refugee women are in Canada to do the ‘dirty work’ Canadian-born citizens will not do” and “immigrant women are not feminist”) and a suggested list of actions and resources. Available from http://www.criaw-icref.ca

Assisting Immigrant and Refugee Women Abused by Their Sponsors: A Guide for Service Providers (2003) (55 pages) Guide produced by the BC Institute against Family Violence (BCIFV) with funding from the Anti-Racism and Multiculturalism Program of the BC Ministry of Multiculturalism and Immigration. The guide features more than 10 scenarios of women experiencing violence, such as sponsored fiancée, women with an in-Canada sponsorship application in progress, women applying for convention refugee status, women with children and no permanent resident status, etc. Due to the technical and changing nature of legal information, it is unlikely that this guide from 2003 contains reliable information. To be useful, a guide like this would have to be updated constantly. The scenarios are nonetheless helpful in demonstrating how people interact with policies, illustrating how actual policies affect real life situations. Available from http://www.bcifv.org (website is no longer available)

Nowhere to Turn? Responding to Partner Violence against Immigrant and Visible Minority Women (2004) (68 pages) Report produced by the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD) and submitted to the Department of Justice, Sectoral Involvement in Departmental Policy Development. It is based on focus groups with frontline workers from community organizations in seven cities (Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax). This report highlights the social, cultural and systemic barriers that hinder immigrant and visible minority women from seeking and obtaining the supports they need. Key findings include the need for comprehensive, coordinated and culturally appropriate strategies to reach out to immigrant and visible minority women in Canada who are abused 3/34

______The Safety for Immigrant, Refugee and Non-Status Women Project: Ending Violence Association of BC, MOSAIC & Vancouver Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services Society. Funded by the Law Foundation of BC.

Safety of Immigrant, Refugee and Non-Status Women, Annotated Bibliography, June 2009

by their husbands or partners. It emphasizes the importance of providing information on Canadian laws, rights and services to immigrants in their own language, providing culturally sensitive services, improving and coordinating access to crisis programs and longer-term interventions, stabilizing funding for immigrant settlement and ethno-cultural service agencies, and engaging in education and equity strategies to reduce discrimination, stereotyping and marginalization of immigrant and visible minority communities to prevent partner abuse. Available from http://www.ccsd.ca/pubs/pubcat/nw.htm

The Profile of Absolute and Relative Homelessness (2005) (160 pages) Prepared by MOSAIC for the National Secretariat on Homelessness. While this report primarily addresses homelessness among immigrants and refugees in Greater Vancouver, it also provides important information in understanding how immigrant and refugee women’s safety is affected by housing concerns. Immigrant and refugee women may have distinctive reasons for needing sheltering housing, such as language barriers, and a lack of social networks and other resources which prevent them from finding housing. In particular, the report states that non-status women “do not qualify for shelters and as such may move from transition house to transition house until they eventually have nowhere to stay, and end up on the streets or in exploitative relationships. Some refugee claimants have been sent into the shelter system by a faith-based service representative at the Vancouver airport.” The report draws four major conclusions. First, “the extent of relative and absolute homelessness among immigrants, refugees, and refugee claimants is less than would be expected given the income levels of these groups.” Secondly, “the social networks operating among immigrant, refugee, and refugee claimant communities appear to mitigate against the worst forms of homelessness”—so much so that they are actually “underrepresented in the population using homeless shelters.” Thirdly, the report found that “refugee claimants, given the combination of their uncertain legal status, lack of language facility, and lack of familiarity with Canadian society, are the most likely of all newcomers to ‘fall between the cracks’ of both ethno-cultural communities and the welfare and housing provisions of the state.” Fourthly, the report emphasizes the phrase “hidden homelessness,” pointing out that “immigrants, refugees, and refugee claimants appear to be particularly susceptible to relative homelessness, so their difficulties in the housing market are essentially invisible.” Lastly, the report argues that homelessness is a “spectrum of conditions, rather than a single absolute state,” and that there also needs to be a spectrum of policy responses to address homelessness. Available from http://www.mosaicbc.com/PDF_files/The_Profile_of_Absolute_and_Relative_Homelessness .pdf

Women’s Civil and Political Rights in Canada (2005) (55 pages) Report by the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA), funded and supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research 4/34

Safety of Immigrant, Refugee and Non-Status Women, Annotated Bibliography, June 2009

Council and the Centre for Feminist Legal Studies at the University of British Columbia. It was submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on the occasion of its review of Canada’s 5th report on compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The report calls on Canada to account for its breaches of international human rights obligations and its failure to credit and respect international human rights bodies by responding constructively and actively to their recommendations. In particular, the report focuses on women’s poverty and the persistent systematic discrimination faced by aboriginal women. In the Violence Against Women section (page 36), the report cites the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) Fact Sheet on Violence Against Women and Girls (2002), Nowhere to Turn? (2004), publications by the Chinese Family Services of Ontario, Status of Women Canada, and other researchers in stating the following: Women who face multiple forms of discrimination, such as Aboriginal women, women of colour, immigrant women, lesbians, disabled women, young girls and older women, are at a higher risk of violence. Further, these women have a more difficult time accessing services. For example, “less than two-thirds of shelters for abused women report being accessible to women with disabilities.” Also, there is a complex set of issues, attitudes, barriers and gaps in service that make immigrant and racialized women uniquely vulnerable when faced by domestic violence. Only 57 percent of Canadian shelters offered services that are sensitive to cultural differences. Further, women who have difficulty speaking the official language where they live face enormous barriers in accessing services and dealing with the justice system. When services and the justice system fail, women find it even more difficult to escape abuse.1 It also cites the report Sponsorship—for Better or for Worse: the Impact of Sponsorship on the Equality Rights of Immigrant Women in pointing out that the immigration policy enforces and worsens the already vulnerable position of these sponsored women by increasing their dependence on their spouse. Available from http://www.fafia-afai.org/en/womens_civil_and_political_rights_in_canada_2005

1 Cited are Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW) Fact Sheet on Violence Against Women and Girls (2002); Canadian Council on Social Development, Nowhere to Turn? Responding to Partner Violence Against Immigrant and Visible Minority Women (2004); Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter. “A Study of Community Services for Female Chinese Victims of Domestic Violence”; Chinese Family Services of Ontario, “Cultural Implications for Chinese Who are Abused”; Status of Women Canada, “Assessing Violence Against Women: A Statistical Profile” (2002); Yasmin Jiwani, “Intersecting Inequalities: Immigrant Women of Color, Violence and Health Care,” FREDA Centre for Research on Violence Against Women (2001); and Linda MacLeod and Maria Shin. “Isolated, Afraid and Forgotten: The Service Delivery Needs and Realities of Immigrant and Refugee Women Who are Battered,” National Clearinghouse on Family Violence, Health and Welfare Canada (1990). 5/34

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Analysis of Policies Affecting Immigrant, Refugee and Visitor Women Who Experience Violence (2006) This analysis is an extension of the ongoing work on immigrant issues. The Community Coordination for Women’s Safety, a project of Ending Violence Association of BC in consultation with agencies and individuals regarding policies affecting immigrant, refugee and visitor women who experience violence produced in a list of recommendations and principles of effective response including: Responders should take a holistic approach to understanding the complexities of women’s lives, taking as many factors as possible into account. They should recognize the impacts of, and links between, immigration, violence, poverty, racism and custody issues. Available from http://www.endingviolence.org

Measuring Violence Against Women: Statistical Trends (2006) (97 pages) Produced by Statistics Canada. Federal/Provincial/Territorial (F/P/T) Status of Women Ministers joined Statistics Canada to compile this collection of statistical indicators on five major aspects of women’s experiences of violence: prevalence and severity, impact, risk factors, institutional and community-based responses, and victims’ use of services. This report updates the information contained in the 2002 publication Assessing Violence Against Women: A Statistical Profile and includes new information in a number of areas including new data examining the situation for Aboriginal women and residents of the territories, making a contribution toward the goal of providing improved data for policy making. This report adds important new information that was not available in the 2002 report, including data on criminal harassment, sentencing of spousal violence perpetrators, availability and use of victim services, and detailed information for Aboriginal women and women in the territories. However, sections on visible minority and immigrant women still rely on data from Statistics Canada, General Social Survey (GSS), 1999 and 2004. Since the GSS is conducted only in English and French, their figures may grossly under-represent the actual rates of spousal violence against non-English or French-speaking visible minority and immigrant women who may not have been able to participate in the survey. Therefore, the GSS findings that visible minority and immigrant women report lower levels of spousal violence than non-immigrant women should be considered unreliable. The report concludes by highlighting gaps that remain in the data required to paint a more complete picture of the nature, extent and impacts of violence against women. For example, it calls for more detailed data for visible minority, immigrant, Aboriginal and Northern women; sexual assault victimization; perpetrators of violence; attitudes and perceptions of violence among Canadians; the economic costs of violence; and other forms of violence, such as trafficking in persons. Available from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=85-570-X

Non-Status Women in Canada: Fact Sheet and Brochure (2006) (2 pages each) Fact sheet and brochure created in 2006 by the Rights of Non-Status Women Network (RNSWN), an organized network of agencies and community members in 6/34

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Toronto. They use statistics for women with legal status in Canada since there are no specific statistics on violence against non-status women, even though they face particular vulnerabilities. People who live without legal status are forced to live underground and work under the table in order to avoid being noticed by the authorities and consequently deported. For this reason, it is impossible to provide an accurate statistic. Estimates range anywhere from 20,000 to 200,000 individuals, but many believe that the numbers are a lot higher. Specific reasons are listed as to why non-status women are at a high risk of experiencing violence, including the very limited access to information, counselling, and other social services. Listed are three policy recommendations: 1) Regularization of all non-status people in Canada; 2) No asking about immigration status or reporting to Immigration Canada by Police and other service providers. A “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy pertaining to immigration status, making city services available to all city residents without discrimination on the basis of immigration status; and 3) Changes to immigration law to protect immigrant women from abusive sponsors and employers. Available from http://www.cleonet.ca/resources/891

Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile (2006) (78 pages) This is the ninth annual Family Violence in Canada: A Statistical Profile report produced by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics under the Federal Family Violence Initiative. This annual report provides “the most current data on the nature and extent of family violence in Canada, as well as trends over time, as part of the ongoing initiative to inform policy makers and the public about family violence issues.” Similar reports include the 2004 Immigrants and Victimizations report which argued that immigrants actually had a lower rate of violent crime victimization in 2004. The report utilized data from the incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR2) survey which collected detailed information on individual criminal incidents reported to police, the 2004 General Social Survey on Victimization (GSS) which was based on telephone interviews with an admittedly limited sample of the Canadian population, the Homicide survey which collected police-reported data on homicide incidents since 1961, and the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS) which tracked child maltreatment investigations conducted in a representative sample of 63 Child Welfare Service areas across Canada in 2003. The report contains some notable statistical analysis such as provincial variations in spousal homicide (page 53) showing, for instance, that spousal homicide rates in the three Territories were considerably higher than the provinces between 1995 and 2004. It also found that common-law and separated spouses were at greatest risk of spousal homicide, and that young persons were at highest risk of spousal homicide. The report, however, relies heavily on GSS data and thus contains no mention of immigration status, race, or non- English language speaking populations in understanding dynamics of family violence. Available from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-224-x/85-224-x2006000-eng.pdf

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Analysis of Policies Affecting Immigrant, Refugee and Visitor Women Who Experience Violence (2006) (14 pages) Prepared by the Community Coordination for Women’s Safety (CCWS), a program of the BC Association of Specialized Victim Assistance and Counselling Programs (now known as Ending Violence Association of BC), this document reports on in-depth consultation with six agencies regarding policies affecting immigrant, refugee and visitor women who experience violence. It provides a detailed list of recommendations, categorized by the governmental bodies that would be responsible for making the proposed changes, followed by a series of principles for effective response, also gathered from the consultation. Included under recommendations for Immigration Canada, for instance, are items pertaining to gender inequity in immigration requirements, dependency on an abusive sponsor for immigration status, lack of connection between immigration and family law, refugee protection system gaps, families coming to Canada in the entrepreneurial category, sponsorship debt, visa waiver and relationship abuse. Other examples include recommendations for the BC Ministry of Attorney General to take measures to protect victim/witnesses, and recommendations for the Ministry of Employment and Income Assistance to ensure that women with permanent resident status know that they have the right to access social assistance. Available from http://endingviolence.org/node/779 PDF

Specialized Support for Women Who Are Victims of Violence (2007) (3 pages, briefing document) Prepared by the BC Association of Specialized Victim Assistance and Counselling Programs (now known as Ending Violence Association of BC), the document is part of a series of 16 briefing notes titled “Critical Elements of an Effective Response to Violence Against Women”. It summarizes key points and identifies significant gaps concerning current specialized support services for women who are victims of domestic or sexual violence. Among others, the document identifies three pressing gaps in services for women who are victims of violence: Specialized counselling services for women who are under 18 and are victims of sexual assault or dating violence; Services, including outreach, for marginalized, and therefore, particularly vulnerable, women such as aboriginal women, immigrant women and women with disabilities, including interpreter services to help women access appropriate victim support services; Specialized hospital-based responses to domestic violence and sexual assault in partnership with community-based programs. Other briefing notes in the series include: high-risk information-sharing protocol; barriers to women’s participation in the criminal justice process; addressing gaps in services for marginalized women; effective enforcement of protection orders; specialized justice processes for domestic and sexual violence; coordination of responses to violence against women; provincial justice policies on violence against women and children; treatment for assaultive men; addressing sexual assault; third party reporting in cases of sexual assault;

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legal aid and related family law services for abused women; training on violence against women; and prevention of violence against women. Available from http://endingviolence.org/node/275

Understandings of Spousal Sponsorship in South Asian International Arranged Marriages (2007) (7 pages, policy brief) Research study conducted by Professor Noorfarah Merali at the University of Alberta with funding support from the Prairie Metropolis Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration, Integration & Diversity and others. This policy brief points out that South Asians from India, Pakistan, and the surrounding areas of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka represent the second largest and fastest growing visible minority group in Canada, and focuses on misunderstandings and vulnerabilities resulting from the cultural practice of arranged marriage involving male Canadian citizens or permanent residents who sponsor family-chosen brides from their home countries. Research found that while English proficient South Asian women were generally aware of resources available to them, non- English proficient women facing abuse and manipulation were completely reliant on third- party interpretations of the nature of sponsorship, often resulting in miscommunication and misinformation about the sponsored person’s rights, limitations, and residency status. The women’s lack of awareness of their rights and status reveal a particular vulnerability to various types of human rights violations. In its policy recommendations, the report highlights the need for first language translation of the sponsorship application form and sponsorship guide for non-English proficient women so they can fully understand the content before signing it. Citing the World Health Organization (2003) document on “rights-based education” as a critical vehicle for reducing the vulnerability of disadvantaged groups to exploitation or abuse, the report also highlights the need for a “rights-based orientation” for sponsored women to explain the conditions of sponsorship and the women’s rights in relation to their residency status and existing protections against violence. It also advocates for the establishment of a spousal allowance so that sponsored persons can independently access and draw on a specific proportion of the sponsor’s monthly or annual income to guarantee adequate material subsistence. In the least, the report suggests introducing a government initiated monitoring process to ensure provision for a sponsored woman’s basic needs and sustenance. It recommends as a safety net that all sponsored women be connected to an immigration or settlement agency for at least a single visit upon their arrival in Canada. Available from http://pcerii.metropolis.net/frameset_e.html

Empowerment of Immigrant and Refugee Women Who Are Victims of Violence in Their Intimate Relationships (2007) (106 pages) Prepared for the Justice Institute of British Columbia, this report is based on in- depth interviews with 75 immigrant and refugee women who were victims of violence in their intimate relationships. The goal was to: (1) determine what service delivery factors they found to be empowering and disempowering; and (2) develop recommendations based on the findings to more effectively facilitate their empowerment. Research was carried out in 9/34

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collaboration with 3 community partners: Vancouver and Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services Society, the Prince George Elizabeth Fry Society, and MOSAIC. The report concludes that two primary themes emerged from the interviews. The first theme is the importance of addressing the multiplicity of needs including language barriers, lack of information and access, sponsorship and immigration barriers, material needs, and social isolation. The second theme is the importance of a “comprehensive, caring service” including “proactive intervention; advocacy and accompaniment; broadening of traditional professional roles and mandates; and sensitivity to women’s cultural and immigration realities.” Recommendations reflect these two themes. One such recommendation calls for “further research to determine the actual impact that current legislation, policy, procedures, practices, and programs relating to immigration and sponsorship have on the material needs and well-being of abused immigrant women.” Available from http://www.jibc.ca

Keeping Women Safe: Eight Critical Components of an Effective Justice Response to Domestic Violence (2008) (97 pages) The Critical Components Project Team prepared this report, with funding from the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, BC Association of Specialized Victim Assistance and Counseling Programs (now known as Ending Violence Association of BC), and Victoria Women’s Transition House Society. It outlines a “framework for a comprehensive approach to domestic violence that best meets the diverse needs of communities in British Columbia,” and identified 8 critical components based on research and evaluation of coordinated approaches to service delivery for victims and offenders. These 8 critical components of a “framework for an effective, specialized response to domestic violence” include effective, inclusive approaches to: 1. Managing risk and victim safety – including a comprehensive, coordinated approach to risk and safety assessment and victim safety planning 2. Offender accountability – including appropriate and consistent sentencing, consistent enforcement of protection orders, and accessible treatment for abusers 3. Specialized victim support – including comprehensive, proactive, and timely support with outreach and access for marginalized groups 4. Information-sharing – including consistent, timely information-sharing between agencies and with the victim, with particular emphasis on high-risk cases 5. Coordination – including coordination and collaboration at all levels among all relevant sectors, senior level leadership, and resources to adequately support a coordinated approach 6. Domestic violence policy – including adherence to a comprehensive justice system policy that applies to all justice system components and requires a consistent and informed approach to charging, prosecution, and offender accountability 7. Use of specialized expertise – including specialized approaches such as dedicated justice system personnel and dedicated court time, adequately funded specialized training, and if they are considered an option, a carefully considered and principled approach to domestic violence courts 10/34

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8. Monitoring and evaluation – including monitoring and evaluation as an integral part of all the foregoing critical components and a systematic, comprehensive approach to collection, analysis, and publication of statistics across all justice system components. The report also discusses the fact that a woman’s reluctance or fear of proceeding through the criminal justice system is often referred to as the most persistent challenge in cases of domestic violence. Pointing out that women who are fearful of proceeding are described as “reluctant”, “uncooperative” or “hostile” witnesses, the report explains how women’s fears may be rational reactions based on the realities of their lives and what they know about the justice system. It states that the inability or unwillingness of a victim to cooperate with a criminal prosecution should be recognized as a potential safety concern and a preoccupation with victim “cooperation” detracts from the basic need to ensure the victim is safe. Available from http://www.endingviolence.org/node/659 PDF

Cross-sector Forum and Consultation: Improving Responsiveness of Services for Immigrant and Refugee Women Experiencing Violence (2008) (110 pages) Prepared by Linda Light. This report presents the results of a cross-sector forum and consultation to improve responsiveness of services for immigrant and refugee women experiencing violence. Held in June 2008 in the BC Lower Mainland, 192 participants, primarily from victim services/anti-violence and Settlement/ELSA (English Language Services for Adults) agencies attended the 2-day session, organized, in part, in response to the Justice Institute report, Empowerment of Immigrant and Refugee Women Who Are Victims of Violence in Their Intimate Relationships (2007). There were seven primary needs that emerged from this consultation: Better collaboration, networking, and information-sharing within and between sectors, with a particular emphasis on bringing the Settlement/ELSA sector into a coordinated, collaborative response to violence against women. Better training on a range of topics, with a particular focus on issues related to violence against women for the Settlement/ELSA sector and immigrant and refugee issues for the anti-violence/Victim Services sector, and on cultural sensitivity training for all those working with immigrant and refugee women who are victims of violence. More services and written resources for women in a range of languages, including counselling services and education/prevention initiatives. More and better interpretation services for immigrant and refugee women, including interpreters who are trained and qualified, especially on violence against women issues, available on a 24/7 basis. Expanded services for women, children, and men, especially outreach services. An expanded mandate for Settlement/ELSA workers to enable them to deal with disclosures of violence as “first responders”, services that are over-loaded and long wait-lists.

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Paid violence against women coordinators in local communities to provide leadership and facilitate a coordinated, cross-sector response to violence against women, including immigrant and refugee women. Better working conditions for service providers, including better and more equitable wages in order to keep people in their jobs and address inequities between agencies. Policy and legislative changes to better serve immigrants, refugees, and non-status women. In particular, the consultation identified language barriers as a priority issue, and recommended that a province-wide cross-ministry initiative be developed to address the need for more services, service providers, written materials, and other resources in abused immigrant and refugee women’s first language, and for a comprehensive, effective interpreter system when services cannot be offered in a woman’s first language. A strategy to address language issues for immigrant and refugee women who are victims of violence should be considered a priority health and safety issue. The report also recommends establishing a cross-ministry initiative to review policy and legislation that directly impacts immigrant, refugee, and non-status women who are victims of violence and to develop concrete strategies to address identified problem areas on a priority basis.

UNHCR Refugee Protection and Human Trafficking: Selected Legal Reference Materials, First Edition (2008) (384 pages) This is a comprehensive document on international and regional law and policy relating to human trafficking. The Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section (PPLAS), in the Division of International Protection Services (DIPS) of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), produced the document. According to this report, the American Convention on Human Rights (1969) [“Pact of San Jose”] is the foundational human rights document for the Organization of American States (OAS). Article 6 of the Convention specifically mentions “slave trade and traffic in women” in its categorical prohibition on slavery. Article 22(7) provides for the right to asylum and Article 22(8) codifies the principle of non-refoulement. The Convention has been ratified by all OAS states except the US, Canada and the Anglo-Caribbean states. Similarly, the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women (1994) [“Convention of Belém do Pará”] provides a robust regime for protecting the right of women to be free from violence within both the public and private spheres. Article 2(b) specifically lists “trafficking in persons” as a form of violence against women regardless of whether it involves the knowledge or acquiescence of state agents. Every member of the Organization of American States except the United States and Canada has ratified the Convention. Source: http://www.unhcr.org/publ/PUBL/4986fd6b2.pdf

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Sexual Assault in Canada 2004 and 2007 (released in December 2008) (20 pages) As part of the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics Profile Series, this report primarily draw on results from the 1999 and 2004 General Social Survey (GSS) on victimization and police-reported data derived from the aggregate Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, and the incident-based Uniform Crime Reporting Survey (UCR2). Like other GSS- derived profiles, this report contains little to no data analysis pertaining to immigrant and refugee women with limited proficiency in English or French. It concludes from victimization data that most incidents of sexual assault are not formally reported, with less than 1 in 10 coming to the attention of police, and instead turning to informal sources (typically friends) for support. The rate of sexual victimization for females was about 5 times the rate for males, those accused of sexual assaults were most often male, and the victim and accused were known to each other in the majority of cases. Also available are Household Income and Victimization in Canada, 2004 (released 2009), Sexual Assault in Canada 2004 and 2007 (released 2008), Immigrants and Victimization 2004 (released 2008), Hate Crime in Canada 2006 (released 2008), Sexual Orientation and Victimization 2004 (released 2008), Visible Minorities and Victimization 2004 (released 2008), etc. Available from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics Profile Series: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=85F0033M&chropg=1&lang=eng

2. CIC and Other Guides (in chronological order)

CIC: First Steps: An Orientation Package for Newcomers (2003) (101 pages) This is a guide produced by the Ontario Region Settlement Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, designed to provide basic orientation information for government-assisted refugees arriving in Canada under the Resettlement Assistance Program. Sections include explanations of available programs, housing, health, education, employment, community services, and other aspects of living in Canada. It contains only a brief mention of violence under “family problems” (page 58): “You can find emergency numbers for help with family violence or sexual assault on the first and second pages in the white pages of your telephone book.” Also see the other CIC guides, Newcomer’s Introduction to Canada (2006) and Welcome to Canada: What You Should know (2007), and compare to Community Airport Newcomers Network’s (CANN) Information for Newcomers (2008) and British Columbia Newcomers’ Guide to Resources and Services (2009). Available from http://www.settlement.org/sys/library_detail.asp?doc_id=1002633

CIC: Newcomer’s Introduction to Canada (2006) (46 pages) This is a booklet provided by the Ministry of Public Works and Government Services Canada. It explains what to expect in the first few days and weeks, how to find a place to live, how to get a Social Insurance Number and a healthcare card, find a job, and what services are available from the immigrant-serving organizations across Canada. 13/34

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Offered are some “useful” information about Canada’s geography and history, government and Canadian “way of life,” and instructions on how to become a Canadian citizen. A section titled “Women’s rights” states: “In Canada, women have the same legal status, rights and opportunities as men. Most Canadian men respect women as equals—socially, in the workplace and in the home. Violence against women is against the law. Women who are abused can seek help for themselves and their children in local shelters. They are also entitled to legal protection to keep them safe” (38). This is the only section addressing violence against women. Available from http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/index.asp

CIC: Welcome to Canada: What You Should Know (2007) (54 pages) Provided by the CIC, the booklet contains useful settlement information for newcomers as well odd bits and pieces of information such as “Canada is a very large country, and it can be expensive to make calls from one city to another” (5). It has a page with information about children’s rights, women’s rights, and domestic violence. The guide is written in clear and simple language, but it has no illustrations or graphics, making it text- heavy and hard to follow. Available from http://www.cic.gc.ca/English/resources/publications/welcome/index.asp

CANN Information for Newcomers (2008) (44 pages) Funded by CIC and services provided by S.U.C.C.E.S.S. (multi-service non-profit organization in BC). Upon arrival at the airport all newcomers destined to the Lower Mainland are supposed to receive this publication provided by CANN (Community Airport Newcomers Network), a federally funded new immigrant reception program. This booklet contains information on landing procedures at the airport, what to expect upon arrival, initial settlement procedures, etc. It contains fairly detailed information on abuse and violence in 4 different sections. Under “Other Specialized Counseling Services,” it states: What is Abuse? You have been abused when another person hurts you or treats you badly. The abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional, psychological or financial. You are a victim of domestic violence if your partner or someone close to you: * physically abuses you * threatens or hurts you * constantly criticizes you * forces unwanted sex * controls who you see, where you go, what you do, how you spend your money.” In the following pages, the booklet lists Counseling Services for Newcomers and Special Services for Women (39-40), Crisis Help Lines (41), and Transition Houses/Emergency Shelters (41-42), stating: If you and/or your children are in a violent or abusive situation, you can stay in a transition house. A transition house is a safe place where you can stay while you decide

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what to do next. A transition house has professional staff who can provide counselling, emotional support and information. Aside from being a shelter, a transition house can also provide you with food, clothing and free medical care. If you are in need of an emergency shelter or a transition house, contact an immigrant settlement organization or a crisis line. The section “Counseling Services for Newcomers and Special Services for Women,” informs newcomers that if they’re “having problems adjusting to life in Canada or experiencing violence or distress,” they should call someone from the long list including the Battered Women’s Support Services, MOSAIC, SUCCESS Services in Chinese, Vancouver Rape Relief & Women’s Shelter, etc. The agencies list covers Abbotsford, Burnaby, Maple Ridge, Mission, North Vancouver, New Westminster, Richmond, Surrey/Delta, and Vancouver. Only the English and French versions are available online, but other languages may be available at the airport. Available from http://www.successbc.ca/eng/component/option,com_mtree/task,listcats/cat_id,112/

A Guide to Humanitarian and Compassionate Applications (2008) (10 pages) This brief guide by MOSAIC (multi-service non-profit organization in BC) explains what an H&C application is, what risks are involved in an H&C application, and how to go about applying for H&C. Not much gender-specific information on violence is provided, except on one page that is included under the list of hardships that must be proven: “If you are a woman, the difficulties you face in your home country.” Produced by the MOSAIC Public Legal Education Project for Newcomers, with financial support of Legal Services Society of British Columbia and The Law Foundation of British Columbia. Available from http://www.mosaicbc.com

British Columbia Newcomers’ Guide to Resources and Services (2009) (119 pages) Book produced by the Immigrant Integration Branch of the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development and written using the Canadian Language Benchmark 4 (CLB 4) level to meet the needs of non-English speaking newcomers. Advisory committee members included representatives from MOSAIC, Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria, Abbotsford & Chilliwack Community Services, SUCCESS, and Immigrant & Multicultural Services Society of Prince George. It will be made available in ten other languages in the fall/winter of 2009—Arabic, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Farsi (Persian), French, Korean, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese. Available from http://www.welcomebc.ca/en/service_providers/resources.html

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3. Academic Journal Articles (alphabetical by author’s name)

Abu-Ras, Wahiba. "Cultural Beliefs and Service Utilization by Battered Arab Immigrant Women." Violence Against Women 13, no. 10 (2007): 1002-28. This study examines the relationship between cultural belief and the utilization of services among Arab immigrant women. All participants in the study reported at least one act of partner abuse resulting in a consultation with various formal services. Significant correlations were found between the holding of traditional attitudes toward gender in general, and wife battering in particular, by the women and the utilization of formal mental, social, and legal services. The article also discusses policy implications and the impacts of the anti-Arab political climate after the 9/11 attacks. The article points out that the Arab American community is among those most misunderstood, misrepresented, and negatively perceived by mainstream American society. This not only affects the ability of Arab immigrants to cope with their marital, sociocultural and political challenges, but can also lead to prejudices, biases, and faulty assumptions on the part of service providers. It calls for immediate reforms in intervention policy and practice.

Adames, Sandra Bibiana, and Rebecca Campbell. "Immigrant Latinas' Conceptualizations of Intimate Partner Violence." Violence Against Women 11, no. 10 (2005): 1341-64. PDF Findings revealed that the immigrant Latinas were aware of the poor quality of intimate relationships in their community, were knowledgeable about intimate partner violence, and understood that intimate partner violence is an extensive problem in the immigrant Latino community. The authors advise that in our attempts to address intimate partner violence, “we must be particularly mindful of immigrant experiences such as linguistic competency, documentation, shifts in power, acculturation and biculturalism, and accessibility to resources,” and that intervention efforts focus broadly on the environmental elements that engender violence, such as community-level strategies.

Ahmad, Farah, Sarah Riaz, Paula Barata, and Donna E. Stewart. "Patriarchal Beliefs and Perceptions of Abuse among South Asian Immigrant Women." Violence Against Women 10, no. 3 (2004). PDF This study investigates the relationship between South Asian immigrant women’s patriarchal beliefs and their perceptions of spousal abuse, based on 20-minute telephone surveys administered in English, Urdu, or Hindi with 47 women in the Greater Toronto area in Canada. Overall, 24% of interviewees experienced physical abuse perpetrated by their partners during the past 5 years, which is 3 times higher than the prevalence rate reported by the Statistics Canada General Social Survey 1999. Rather than attribute the source of violence to patriarchy, the researchers carefully argue that women’s patriarchal beliefs influence their own perceptions of women’s victimization at the hands of intimate partners. In short, the study findings emphasize the pivotal role of awareness and education about patriarchy in the empowerment of women.

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American Civil Liberties Union. Domestic Violence: Protective Orders and the Role of Police Enforcement 2007 Available from http://www.aclu.org/womensrights/violence/28743pub20070301.html A brief questions and answers format document outlining key issues in the US around what protection is available, what happens if a protective order is violated, why police enforcement of protective orders is important, and what victims of violence can do to keep themselves safe.

Ammar, Nawal H. "Wife Battery in Islam: A Comprehensive Understanding of Interpretations." Violence Against Women 13, no. 5 (2007): 516-26. PDF This article by a criminologist at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology presents a comprehensive discussion of Islamic interpretations of wife beating, exploring 4 schools with varying Islamic perspectives on the issue. Using a feminist Islam framework, it questions how “Islam” or “religion” is used to justify wife beating to the police, in courts, and in other arenas. The review of the range of Islamic interpretations provides an invaluable educational tool for advocates, attorneys, and service providers working with immigrant Muslim women in the United States.

Boyd, Monica. "Gender Aspects of International Migration to Canada and the United States." In International Symposium on International Migration and Development. Turin, Italy: Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Secretariat, 2006. PDF The paper demonstrates the gendered nature of permanent, temporary and illegal migration to Canada and the United States, highlights a few consequences for immigrant women, and indicates tools of intervention that include gender based analysis, special programs, NGO activities, along with government agreements and policies. It asks how the norms, social relationships and hierarchies associated with being female or male affects the potential for migration and the experiences of migration for women and men. It also explores how gender inequalities in destination countries affect the immigrant experiences, and how migration benefits or disadvantages women and men in different ways. Addressing these questions, the author provides insight into the gendered nature of migration, the experiences of migrant women in all aspects of migration including return, the inequalities and opportunities that await them in their destination countries, and the nodes of policy interventions at domestic, bilateral and/or multinational levels.

Brownridge, Douglas A., and Shiva S. Halli. "Double Jeopardy?: Violence against Immigrant Women in Canada." Violence and Victims 17, no. 4 (2002): 455-71. Based on a representative sample of 7,115 women, the article suggests that immigrant women from developing countries have the highest prevalence of violence. The analyses demonstrate that several variables operate differently in the production of violence against immigrant women from developed and developing nations. However, the key difference in explaining the higher prevalence of violence among those from developing countries is the sexually proprietary behavior exhibited by their partners. The results show that sexual

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jealousy interacts with high female education and low male education levels in the prediction of violence among immigrant women from developing countries.

Brownridge, Douglas A. "Cultural Variation in Male Partner Violence against Women: A Comparison of Québec with the Rest of Canada." Violence Against Women 8, no. 1 (2002): 87-115. PDF Beginning with the assertion that Canada has a history of regional polarity on indicators of social disorder, this study investigates the question of whether Quebec possesses a different culture of male partner violence against women, in comparison to the rest of Canada. Using a large-scale representative sample of Canadian women, researchers conclude that Quebec has a lower prevalence of violence than the rest of Canada and that men in Quebec who hold patriarchal attitudes will be more likely to be violent than those who do not. Discussion of immigrant women takes place in the context of how immigrants to Quebec are more likely to speak French than immigrants to the rest of Canada are to speak English. The authors imply that the higher prevalence of violence among immigrant women in other parts of Canada have something to do with the higher likelihood that the men from Hong Kong, China and India hold more extreme patriarchal attitudes.

Bruckert, Christine, and Colette Parent. "Organized Crime and Human Trafficking in Canada: Tracing Perceptions and Discourses." Ottawa: Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 2004. The report presents findings that offer a preliminary analysis of the intersection and interaction between official legislatively enshrined discourses, judicial rulings, and the understanding and knowledge of criminal justice professionals and sex trade worker advocates. It sketches the official discourses surrounding organized crime and human trafficking, as reflected in United Nations and Canadian state documents, situating them within the context of social and economic inequity, and framing them in terms of a criminal justice tactic—greater criminalization and cross-national collaboration by police and other authorities. It also analyzes the Canadian judicial discourse to ascertain how the courts respond to cases involving irregular migrant women in the sex trade.

Bui, Hoan N. In the Adopted Land: Abused Immigrant Women and the Criminal Justice System. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. This book focuses on the experiences of Vietnamese immigrant women who are battered and interfacing with the US criminal justice system, and assesses how useful and problematic this system is for increasing the safety of women. The intersection of race, class, gender, and immigrant status are seen as influencing the experiences of violence against immigrant women. In particular, Bui describes how policies of mandatory arrest and prosecution result in the imprisonment of battered women who defend themselves against their batterer, as well as women who do not. The book discusses how immigrant women are often forced to contend with abusive partners who are more familiar with the US justice system than the women themselves. Biases within the courts and inadequate court services for abused women can result in women pleading guilty even when they are not. A major concern for non-citizen immigrant women is the possibility of a criminal conviction and its 18/34

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effect on their immigrant case. Bui concludes the book with a call for changes in criminal justice policies and practices, though she provides no specific policy recommendations.

Bui, Hoan N., and Merry Morash. "Domestic Violence in the Vietnamese Immigrant Community: An Exploratory Study." Violence Against Women 5, no. 7 (1999): 769-95. PDF Examining domestic violence in Vietnamese American families, the authors suggest that Vietnamese American women’s experiences of family violence could be affected by the interaction between economic situations, Vietnamese traditional culture, and immigration status. The husband’s patriarchal beliefs and dominant positions in the family and conflicts about changing norms and values between husbands and wives were found to relate to spousal abuse. Importantly, the study goes beyond a culturalist justification of violence in suggesting that class, culture, gender and immigration status simultaneously affect women’s experience of violence by their husbands. Although immigrant Vietnamese women’s economic contributions could not reduce their husbands’ dominant positions and violence, it found that economic hardship could in fact prevent women from leaving an abusive relationship.

Chan, Sherman, Daniel Hiebert, Silvia D'Addario, and Kathy Sherrell. "The Profile of Absolute and Relative Homelessness among Immigrants, Refugees, and Refugee Claimants in the GVRD." Prepared for the National Secretariat on Homelessness. Vancouver, BC: MOSAIC, 2005. Available from http://www.mosaicbc.com/PDF_files/The_Profile_of_Absolute_and_Relative_Homelessne ss.pdf PDF Funded by the National Secretariat on Homelessness, this research was conducted by members of MOSAIC (Sherman Chan as the Principal Investigator) and the Geography Department at the University of British Columbia. The various parts of this project converged on the point that the housing situation of newcomers to Greater Vancouver is heavily influenced by the social capital of existing ethno-cultural communities. As a result, the extent of relative and absolute homelessness among immigrants, refugees, and refugee claimants is less than would be expected given the income levels of these groups. While many individuals and families are living in crowded, substandard conditions, the research finds that the social networks appear to mitigate against the worst forms of homelessness, and that immigrant, refugee, and refugee claimant communities are actually underrepresented in the population using homeless shelters. In particular, they report that overcrowding living situations often lead to tensions among family members and can increase the likelihood of domestic violence.

Chan, Wendy. "Exploring Immigrant Women's Fears of Criminal Victimization." In Metropolis British Columbia Working Paper Series. Vancouver, 2008. Available from http://mbc.metropolis.net/Virtual%20Library/2008/WP08-10.pdf PDF Immigrant women’s fears about crime involves understanding what their issues are, how and why they differ from other women, and what they see as potential solutions. Beginning with a discussion of a number of attacks by strangers against women in Vancouver, this paper studies racialized immigrant women (16 Chinese and 17 South Asian) in the Greater 19/34

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Vancouver Regional District and how they express their concerns about crime in the context of their specific gender, race and class location. Providing insight into the different understandings and strategies around what it means to be safe and practice safety in public, the author (professor in anthropology and sociology at Simon Fraser University) discusses women’s fears, anxieties and vulnerabilities and the strategies they employ to avoid criminal victimization. Though the article does not focus on intimate partner violence, it is useful in considering immigrant women’s relationship with the criminal justice system, especially the police, and the women’s reluctance to report crimes to the police because of fear of retaliation or deportation.

Coker, Donna. “Race, Poverty, and the Crime-Centered Response to Domestic Violence: A Comment on Linda Mills’s Insult to Injury: Rethinking Our Responses to Intimate Abuse.” Violence Against Women 10, no. 11 (2004): 1331-1353. PDF This article responds to a criticism of a crime-centered approach to domestic violence, namely that we are seeing a “massive over-reliance on criminal strategies by advocates for battered women.” The critics have been particularly critical of the most prominent policy feature of this focus, mandatory arrest and no-drop prosecution, pointing out for example that immigrant women and particularly undocumented women face the possibility of deportation with the attendant risks of economic deprivation, separation from children, etc. especially since conviction for domestic violence is a deportable offense in the US. While accepting the merits of many of these arguments, the author argues that alternative interventions to the current crime focus “must not lose sight of one significant benefit of that focus: the potential for emphasizing that domestic violence is morally wrong.”

Conyers Jr., John. "The 2005 Reauthorization of the Violence against Women Act." Violence Against Women 13, no. 5 (2007): 457-68. PDF The author, a US House Representative, provides an overview of the history of congressional involvement with the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) provisions to protect immigrant victims of domestic violence and other forms of violence against women. He outlines the reasoning behind, and purpose of, the most recent enhancements in legal protections for immigrant victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and foreign fiancés and spouses that were included in the reauthorized VAWA 2005, also describing the bipartisan work that resulted in the newest piece of legislation.

Crocker, Diane. “Regulating Intimacy: Judicial Discourse in Cases of Wife Assault (1970 to 2000).” Violence Against Women 11, no. 2 (2005): 197-226. This article describes the findings of research into judicial decision-making in Ontario courts in cases of intimate violence against women. Judges are condemning the violence, issuing relatively harsh sentences, and arguing that the intimate context of the violence is an aggravating factor. The analysis also reveals that judges often rely on stereotypes and traditional notions of marriage, family, and femininity. As records of decisions, the documents suggest a high level of understanding that wife abuse is a crime, but as judicial discourse, they reveal how the justice system regulates intimate relationships and how traditional ideologies persist despite the harsh sentences. 20/34

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Dawson, Myrna, Valerie Pottie Bunge, and Thierno Balde. "National Trends in Intimate Partner Homicides: Explaining Declines in Canada, 1976 to 2001." Violence Against Women 15, no. 3 (2009): 276-306. PDF The authors discuss the subgroup variations in the documents of trends in spousal homicide, and identify factors that may be associated with the reported declines. Using Statistics Canada data, the authors suggest that shifts in relative employment and divorce rates appear to be associated with declining rates for women, whereas shifts in men’s education and divorce rates appear to be associated with declining rates of spousal homicide for men. Their findings complicate the “exposure reduction” framework, which is premised on the well-documented finding that chronic and persistent violence in intimate relationships often precedes intimate partner homicide, and that mechanisms that help abused partners exit from violent relationships or inhibit the development of such relationships in the first place may reduce the rate of lethal victimization. With respect to legislative and policy changes, the authors write that many Canadian jurisdictions have adopted zero-tolerance and/or no-drop policies during the past 20 years, and that these policies require the police to charge in cases of spousal violence where there are reasonable and probable grounds, also requiring that cases be prosecuted when there is a reasonable likelihood of conviction. They also write: “[S]ome jurisdictions now have specialized domestic violence courts. A specialized criminal justice system response was first developed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1990. Similar programs in Ontario, Alberta, and the Yukon have been implemented more recently. The principle aim of these courts is to expedite the processing of domestic violence cases to ensure the safety of the victim, introduce early intervention for first-time offenders, allow for effective investigation and prosecution of these cases, and ensure accountability of the offender. Most of these courts have specialized prosecutorial units; specially designated courtrooms and dockets for intake, screening, and trials; and special units in the probation office to deliver court-mandated treatment programs. Legislative changes, specialized courts, training of criminal justice personnel, and increasing resource availability may have contributed to declining spousal homicide rates of both women and men, although at this point direct causal relationships are difficult to establish” (302). Demir, Jenna Shearer. “The trafficking of women for sexual exploitation: A gendered and well-founded fear of persecution? New Issues in Refugee Research,” Working Paper No. 80, Geneva (2003). PDF This working paper provides an analysis of how trafficked women, under certain circumstances may be eligible for refugee status and discusses how national anti-trafficking legislation may not be sufficient to address their protection needs.

Dragiewicz, Molly. "Patriarchy Reasserted: Fathers' Rights and Anti-VAWA Activism." Feminist Criminology 3, no. 2 (2008): 121-44. PDF The author suggests that the backlash against gender-sensitive responses to women’s victimization, offending, and imprisonment is inseparable from contemporary reaction against feminism and other progressive movements. Discussing the backlash against the American Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the article points out that the “fathers’ 21/34

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rights” movement discourses call for the reassertion of patriarchy and objects to women’s authority, and tend to be particularly preoccupied with issues related to battering and violence policy. Rather than seeing the backlash as a fringe movement, the article points to the implications for the relationship between masculinity and violence, which are increasingly important in an era of federally funded fatherhood and marriage promotion initiatives.

Eigenberg, Helen, Karen McGuffee, Phyllis Berry, and William H. Hall. "Protective Order Legislation: Trends in State Statutes." Journal of Criminal Justice 31, no. 5 (2003): 411- 22. PDF This study examined recent US state statutes and found that more recent laws provided greater access to victims and expanded their eligible populations to include categories that were excluded in earlier legislation (i.e. dating partners, sexual partners, and same-sex partners). Protective orders increased slightly in duration and there was more access to them outside of normal working hours. Compared with earlier legislation, they found newer laws also more likely to authorize judges to design remedies that address financial matters. Penalties for violations remained relatively stable, although states were increasingly willing to use enhanced sanctions for repeat offenders. States continued to use mandatory arrest to enforce orders, and legislators incorporated many aspects of new federal legislation into state statutes. They conclude that the past decade witnessed quite a few important changes in protective order legislation, but that there is insufficient research and evidence on how these laws have been implemented. While legislators in most states are convinced that protective orders are an important enforcement tool, there continues to be a need for policy analysis that would allow lawmakers to determine what types of reforms are most effective.

Enos, V. Pualani. "Learning from the Experiences of Battered Immigrant, Refugee and Indigenous Women Involved with Child Protective Services to Inform a Dialogue among Domestic Violence Activists and Advocates." Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence, National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women, Institute on Race and Justice at Northeastern University, 2003. PDF This report examines how women from immigrant, refugee, and indigenous populations are involved with and treated by Child Protective Services (CPS) in the US. The goal is to share the voices of immigrant, refugee and indigenous women who are survivors of intimate partner abuse and have been involved with CPS. It discusses the policies, practices and interventions that will more effectively address the physical, emotional and spiritual health of individuals, families, and communities. From the outset, the report states that Latino, African American, Asian, Pacific Islander and other non-Caucasian women experience partner abuse at higher rates, and are negatively impacted by their inability to escape abuse or seek appropriate rehabilitative and support services. They encounter negative consequences including homelessness, joblessness, incarceration, drug and alcohol abuse, and physical and emotional injuries. Immigrant and refugee women are thought to be particularly vulnerable populations due to their lack of access to services, poverty, and fears related to maintaining or attaining citizenship status (especially critical in the US).

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Erez, Edna, and Shayna Bach. "Immigration, Domestic Violence, and the Military: The Case Of "Military Brides"." Violence Against Women 9, no. 9 (2003): 1093-117. PDF This study addresses the abuse experiences of immigrant women married or engaged to US servicemen and the response of military social service and legal systems. It explores the intersectionality of immigration status and military spouse or intimate partner status. The findings indicate that the immigration circumstances and status interact with the military context to compound the abuse, further marginalize victims/survivors, and weaken the military social service and legal system’s response. The study concludes that in light of the larger number of intimate partnerships formed between American military personnel stationed abroad and foreign-born women, the abuse potential inherent in such relationships warrants special attention by the military. Feminist Alliance for International Action. "Women's Civil and Political Rights in Canada 2005." Submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on the occasion of its review of Canada’s 5th report on compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. September 2005. Available from http://www.fafia-afai.org/en/womens_civil_and_political_rights_in_canada_2005 This report by the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) was funded and supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Centre for Feminist Legal Studies at the University of British Columbia. It was submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Committee on the occasion of its review of Canada’s 5th report on compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The report calls on Canada to account for its breaches of international human rights obligations and its failure to credit and respect international human rights bodies by responding constructively and actively to their recommendations. In particular, the report focuses on women’s poverty and the persistent systematic discrimination faced by aboriginal women. In the Violence Against Women section (page 36), the report cites the CRIAW Fact Sheet on Violence Against Women and Girls (2002), Nowhere to Turn? (2004), as well as publications by the Chinese Family Services of Ontario, Status of Women Canada, and other researchers in stating as follows: Women who face multiple forms of discrimination, such as Aboriginal women, women of colour, immigrant women, lesbians, disabled women, young girls and older women, face a higher risk of violence. These women have a more difficult time accessing services. For example, “less than two-thirds of shelters for abused women report being accessible to women with disabilities.” Also, there is a complex set of issues, attitudes, barriers and gaps in service that make immigrant and racialized women uniquely vulnerable when faced by domestic violence. Only 57 percent of Canadian shelters offered services that are sensitive to cultural differences. Women who have difficulty speaking the official language where they live face enormous barriers in accessing services and dealing with the justice system. When services and the justice system fail, women find it even more difficult to escape abuse. It also cites the report Sponsorship—for Better or for Worse: the Impact of Sponsorship on the Equality Rights of Immigrant Women, pointing out that the immigration policy enforces

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and worsens the already vulnerable position of sponsored women by increasing their dependence on their spouse.

Fiedler, Rob, Nadine Schuurman, and Jennifer Hyndman. "Hidden Homelessness: An Indicator-Based Approach for Examining the Geographies of Recent Immigrants at-Risk of Homelessness in Greater Vancouver." Cities 23, no. 3 (2006): 205-16. PDF The authors discuss the over-representation of immigrants among the population considered at-risk, and the issue of hidden homelessness. Their findings indicate that spatial concentrations of recent immigrants at-risk of homelessness are found in inner suburban locations, that the vast majority of immigrants in these at-risk areas are recent arrivals, and that recent immigrants are disproportionately excluded from at-risk estimates because they are significantly over-represented among households that have shelter costs that exceed their incomes. Although not directly related to the issue of safety of immigrant and refugee women, the issues of violence, continuum of homelessness (Chan 2005) and hidden homelessness are deeply inter-related.

Fremstad, Shawn, and Laura Cox. "Covering New Americans: A Review of Federal and State Policies Related to Immigrants' Eligibility and Access to Publicly Funded Health Insurance." Kaiser Family Foundation, 2004. PDF In the US, the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity and Reconciliation Act of 1996—known as the 1996 welfare law—resulted in a significant decline in the number of legal immigrants receiving Medicaid coverage and greatly widened the gap in overall health insurance coverage between low-income US citizens and immigrants. This report provides an overview of health coverage challenges facing immigrants, the federal rules regarding immigrants’ eligibility for healthcare, and state efforts to provide replacement coverage for immigrants who are ineligible. It also reviews actions states can take to encourage enrollment of eligible immigrants in public health coverage and to improve immigrants’ access to care. The discussion is obviously specific to the US context, and quite different in the Canadian context of health care, but it is still an important study demonstrating the critical need for access. It also discusses the eligibility of victims of domestic violence in the process of seeking permanent legal residency status.

Hazen, Andrea L., and Fernando I. Soriano. "Experience with Intimate Partner Violence among Latina Women." Violence Against Women 13, no. 6 (2007): 562-82. PDF This is one of the first studies to report on Latina women’s experiences with sexual and psychological, as well as physical, intimate partner violence, and one of the few studies to include women who are migrant-seasonal workers. Studying the experiences of intimate partner violence in 292 Latina women classified as US born, immigrant, or migrant-seasonal workers, it found high lifetime rates of violence and high rates of violence in the preceding years. The authors also found that particularly among the immigrant women, concerns about legal status and the repercussions of reporting violence may contribute to underreporting of the rates of intimate partner violence.

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Jiwani, Yasmin. "Walking a Tightrope: The Many Faces of Violence in the Lives of Racialized Immigrant Girls and Young Women." Violence Against Women 11, no. 7 (2005): 846-75. PDF This article explores a hidden yet pervasive form of violence that marks the lives of young women from racialized immigrant communities in western Canada. It argues for an intersectional analysis that takes into consideration their heightened vulnerability to systemic and institutional forms of violence, and describes intersectionality as a kind of walking a tightrope between the violence of racism and the pressures to conform from within their communities. Challenging previous culturalist explanations, the article suggests that racism constitutes a significant form of structural violence. It suggests that racism constitutes a significant form of structural violence experienced by racialized immigrant girls and young women, and challenges previous culturalist explanations that perceive violence to be an “inherent feature of the racialized culture and a sign of its failure to adapt and/or assimilate to the dominant, Western context” (850). Jiwani argues that the culturalist argument “tends to locate the cause and type of violence, along with the response to the violence, within a primordial interpretation of culture and cultural identity,” and that within this framework, immigrant women are “considered to be high risk because of their location at the intersection of two cultures” (851). She quotes Sherene Razack’s suggestion that “culture talk is a double-edged sword” (1994), cautioning against “singling out particular cultural communities and suggesting that they have a proclivity to violence.” (852).

Johnson, Holly. "Measuring Violence against Women: Statistical Trends 2006." Statistics Canada (Catalog number 85-750-KIE), 2006. Available from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=85-570-X PDF Statistics Canada. Federal/Provincial/Territorial (F/P/T) Status of Women Ministers joined Statistics Canada to compile this collection of statistical indicators on five major aspects of women’s experiences of violence: prevalence and severity, impact, risk factors, institutional and community-based responses, and victims’ use of services. This report updates the information contained in the 2002 publication Assessing Violence Against Women: A Statistical Profile and includes new information in a number of areas. It contains new data examining the situation for Aboriginal women and residents of the territories, making a contribution toward the goal of providing improved data for policy making. This report adds important new information that was not available for the 2002 report, including data on criminal harassment, sentencing of spousal violence perpetrators, availability and use of victim services, and detailed information for Aboriginal women and women in the territories. However, sections on visible minority and immigrant women still rely on data from Statistics Canada, General Social Survey (GSS), 1999 and 2004. Since the GSS is conducted only in English and French, their figures may grossly under-represent the actual rates of spousal violence against non-English or French-speaking, visible minority and immigrant women who may not have been able to participate in the survey. Therefore, the GSS findings indicating that visible minority and immigrant women report lower levels of spousal violence than non-immigrant women should be considered unreliable. The report 25/34

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concludes by highlighting gaps that remain in the data but are required to paint a more complete picture of the nature, extent and impacts of violence against women. For example, it calls for more detailed data for visible minority, immigrant, Aboriginal and Northern women; sexual assault victimization; perpetrators of violence; attitudes and perceptions of violence among Canadians; the economic costs of violence; and other forms of violence, such as trafficking in persons.

Johnson, Michael P., and Kathleen J. Ferraro. "Research on Domestic Violence in the 1990s: Making Distinctions." Journal of Marriage and Family 62 (2000): 948-63. This review of the family literature on domestic violence highlights two broad themes. The first is the importance of distinctions among types or contexts of violence, such as theoretical and practical understanding of the nature of partner violence and the contexts for developing more sensitive and comprehensive theories. The second concerns the interplay of violence, power and control in relationships. It is not a very comprehensive literature review and it does not centrally discuss race, ethnicity, and immigration, but it does mention that immigrant and refugee status creates special difficulties for women trying to escape abusive relationships, and that immigrant women experiencing violence in their homes are often restricted by language barriers, fears of deportation, lack of transportation, fear of loss of child custody, and cultural taboos.

Kim, Mimi. "The Community Engagement Continuum: Outreach, Mobilization, Organizing and Accountability to Address Violence against Women in Asian and Pacific Islander Communities." Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence, 2005. The Community Engagement Continuum is conceptualized as a way to categorize a range of community based approaches in the anti-violence movement and to clarify the goals of engagement. The level to which the strategies used lead to increases in the community’s capacity to transform relations of power defines the four points of the continuum - community outreach and education, community mobilization, community organizing, and community accountability. It documents in detail seven Asian and Pacific Islander anti- violence programs in the US: the Door Knocking Campaign of Stand Against Violence Effectively (SAVE) program of the Cambodian Association of America in Long Beach, California; the Community Needs Assessment of Shimtuh, a program of the Korean Community Center of the East Bay in Oakland, California; the Natural Helper Program of Asian & Pacific Islander Women & Family Safety Center in Seattle, Washington; the Youth Empowerment as Domestic Violence Reduction program of Freedom, Inc. in Madison, Wisconsin; Public Shaming/Naming of Sakhi for South Asian Women (New York); Breaking the Silence Project of Raksha in Atlanta, Georgia; and Pacific Islander Men’s Program in Oahu, Hawai`i. It is notable that none of these cases work on policy change although the report was designed to influence public policy.

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Latta, Rachel E., and Lisa A. Goodman. "Considering the Interplay of Cultural Context and Service Provision in Intimate Partner Violence: The Case of Haitian Immigrant Women." Violence Against Women 11, no. 11 (2005): 1441-64. This study explores how the cultural context of intimate partner violence affects accessibility to mainstream services for Haitian immigrant women in the US. Findings indicated that the nature and context of violence in the Haitian immigrant community contribute to Haitian women’s reluctance to seek services as well as their overall vulnerability to intimate partner violence, and that mainstream services are largely inaccessible to Haitian women. The article is especially important for assessing the safety of undocumented immigrant women - according to the National Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Forum in 1999, at least 50% of Haitians living in the US were undocumented, and undocumented women must contend with disintegration of extended family networks, lack of English-speaking ability, illiteracy, isolation, economic insecurity, legal vulnerability, and lack of knowledge about services.

Light, Linda. "Empowerment of Immigrant and Refugee Women Who Are Victims of Violence in Their Intimate Relationships." New Westminster, BC: Justice Institute of British Columbia, 2007. Available from http://www.jibc.ca PDF Prepared for the Justice Institute of British Columbia, this report is based on in-depth interviews with 75 immigrant and refugee women who were victims of violence in their intimate relationships. The goal was to: (1) determine what service delivery factors they found to be empowering and disempowering; and (2) develop recommendations based on the findings to more effectively facilitate their empowerment. The report concludes that two primary themes emerged from the interviews. The first theme is the importance of addressing the multiplicity of needs including language barriers, lack of information and access, sponsorship and immigration barriers, material needs, and social isolation. The second theme is the importance of a “comprehensive, caring service” including “proactive intervention; advocacy and accompaniment; broadening of traditional professional roles and mandates; and sensitivity to women’s cultural and immigration realities.” Recommendations reflect these two themes. One such recommendation calls for “further research to determine the actual impact that current legislation, policy, procedures, practices, and programs relating to immigration and sponsorship have on the material needs and well-being of abused immigrant women.”

Logan, TK, Lisa Shannon, and Robert Walker. "Protective Orders in Rural and Urban Areas." Violence Against Women 11, no. 7 (2005): 876-911. PDF Building on research in three rural counties and one urban county in the US, this article discusses the problems with the implementation of protective orders. It finds that very important differences exists across jurisdictions: that there are more and specific barriers to obtaining and enforcing protective orders for women from rural areas, that victimization experiences of women seeking protective orders differ for rural and urban women, and that there are differences in protective order stipulations, violations, and perceived effectiveness of protective orders among rural and urban women. Although the article does not concern Canada, and does not consider immigrant and refugee women or race or ethnicity as also 27/34

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affecting the urban-rural disparity, the article nonetheless underscores the need for a more coordinated training for criminal justice and law enforcement personnel to improve the consistency and responsiveness of protective order processes for rural women. I have not found a similar article that addresses urban-rural disparity in protective order processes in Canada.

McDonald, Susan. "Not in the Numbers: Domestic Violence and Immigrant Women." Canadian Woman Studies 19, no. 3 (1999): 163-67. This article suggests that the multiple oppressions faced by women of color, women with disabilities, older women, lesbians, and immigrant women must and can be incorporated into traditional feminist theory on domestic violence and a more comprehensive and complex conceptualization of power and control in intimate relationships.

Morash, Merry, Hoan N. Bui, Yan Zhang, and Kristy Holtfreter. "Risk Factors for Abusive Relationships: A Study of Vietnamese American Immigrant Women." Violence Against Women 13, no. 7 (2007): 653-75. This study identifies risk factors for Vietnamese American women’s abuse. Intensive interviews with 129 Vietnamese women immigrants in a northeastern metropolitan area provided data to examine risk factors for sexual, physical, and verbal abuse. Patriarchal gender arrangements in the family, arguments about fulfilling gender and family roles, and partner’s threat that divorce would compromise the participant’s immigration status put women at risk for each type of abuse. Importantly, the study discusses implications for practice and policy, stating that the current law providing abused immigrants with an opportunity to remain in the US (i.e. VAWA) is laudable, but that the threat of divorce and the related jeopardy to immigration status is still relevant to keeping women in abusive relationships. It concludes that there is a great need for legal education and access.

Orloff, Leslye E., and Hema Sarangapani. "Governmental and Industry Roles and Responsibilities with Regard to International Marriage Brokers: Equalizing the Balance of Power between Foreign Fiancés and Spouses." Violence Against Women 13, no. 5 (2007): 469-85. PDF The authors find that the unregulated nature of the international marriage broker industry endangers women by denying them information necessary to make informed choices with respect to their intended US-based citizen spouses. This article provides an overview of the international marriage broker industry and how the industry’s marketing of marriage potentially endangers many women recruits, and offers an update and analysis of new provisions under US immigration law that strengthen protection available for women who immigrate as fiancées and spouses of US citizens. It discusses the VAWA 2005 provisions that arm foreign national women with a path to legal status without the abusive spouse.

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Oxman-Martinez, Jacqueline, Jill Hanley, Lucyna Lach, Nazilla Khanlou, Swarna Weerasinghe, and Vijay Agnew. "Intersection of Canadian Policy Parameters Affecting Women with Precarious Immigration Status: A Baseline for Understanding Barriers to Health." Journal of Immigrant Health 7, no. 4 (2005): 247-58. The Canadian federal policy provides a framework for the immigration and health experiences of immigrant women. The official immigration category under which a migrant is admitted determines to what degree her right to remain in the country (immigration status) is precarious. Women immigrants fall primarily into the more dependent categories and they experience barriers to access to health services arising from this precarious status. Federal immigration and health policies create direct barriers to health through regulation of immigrants’ access to services as well as unintended secondary barriers. These direct and secondary policy barriers intersect with each other and with socio-cultural barriers arising from the migrant’s socio-economic and ethno-cultural background to undermine equitable access to health for immigrant women living in Canada.

Paradkar, Bageshree. "Suffering in Silence." Toronto Star, June 24, 2000, M1-M2. Advocates face huge challenges in addressing the issue of intimate partner abuse in a socioculturally sensitive manner.

Raj, Anita, and Jay Silverman. "Violence against Immigrant Women: The Roles of Culture, Context, and Legal Immigrant Status on Intimate Partner Violence." Violence Against Women 8, no. 3 (2002): 367-98. PDF Providing a review of legal, medical, and social science research literature, the article finds that the existing research demonstrates that immigrant women’s cultures, contexts, and legal status (a) increase vulnerability for abuse, (b) are used by abusers to control and abuse immigrant women, and (c) create barriers to women seeking and receiving help. The article cites a community-based survey with South Asian immigrant women in Boston which reported that 40.8% of the women experienced physical abuse at the hands of their current partners, a rate that was much higher than in the general population.

Riiskjær, Maria, and Anna Marie Gallagher. "Review of UNHCR’s Efforts to Prevent and Respond to Human Trafficking." Geneva: Policy Development and Evaluation Service, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2008. PDF While a number of excellent UNHCR handbooks, manuals and guidelines address the issue of trafficking; the author argues that the majority of them contains little reference to trafficking as it relates to persons of concern. It states that there is a need to update the publications to reflect trafficking as a protection concern within the organization and to provide guidance to staff and others on how to address the issue. The report concludes that prevention and protection work, as related to trafficking and persons of concern should be given the necessary priority by UNHCR field offices. Particularly helpful are sections discussing the Canadian context.

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Römkens, Renée. “Protecting Prosecution: Exploring the Powers of Law in an Intervention Program for Domestic Violence.” Violence Against Women 12, no. 2 (2006): 160-186. PDF This article critically analyzes how the criminal justice system centrally situates itself in an intervention program intended to protect victims of domestic abuse and stalking. The author argues that current tendencies toward criminalization in domestic violence interventions can have an unintended violent impact for victims who are either excluded from the program or are forced into a criminal justice regime that might not be in their primary interest. Women who can actively navigate the use of the criminal justice system, however, do seem to receive the protection they need.

Russell, Mary. Measures of Empowerment for Women Who Are Victims of Violence and Who Use the Justice System. Victim Services Division, Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, 2002 Available from http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=85-570-XIE This report was updated in 2006 and is no longer available. See instead Holly Johnson, "Measuring Violence against Women: Statistical Trends 2006.”

Russell, Mary, and Linda Light. "Police and Victim Perspectives on Empowerment of Domestic Violence Victims." Police Quarterly 9, no. 4 (2006): 375-96. Based on interviews of a total of 63 victims and 28 police officers, the authors identify “three dimensions of empowerment along which police responses varied: integrated team versus isolated united functioning, deserving versus undeserving victim perspective, and proactive versus pro-forma responses. Police attitudes, situational factors, and victim characteristics influenced the extent to which responses were experienced as empowering or disempowering by victims.” The article complements the 2007 report, Empowerment of Immigrant and Refugee Women Who Are Victims of Violence in Their Intimate Relationships, and adds the perspective that the police acts not only as “gate keepers” to the criminal justice system but also as a potential social support for domestic violence victims, significantly impacting victim safety and service utilization.

Sharma, Anita. "Healing the Wounds of Domestic Abuse: Improving the Effectiveness of Feminist Therapeutic Interventions with Immigrant and Racially Visible Women Who Have Been Abused." Violence Against Women 7, no. 12 (2001): 1405-28. Written by a researcher from the University of Ottawa, the article criticizes feminist therapy for failing to acknowledge the diversity between immigrant and racially visible women who have been abused. The authors examine both the effectiveness of feminist therapy and its limitations, describing the reality of domestic violence among these women and how their needs differ from women in the dominant culture. Strategies for a more inclusive form of feminist therapy are offered as alternatives.

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Shirwadkar, Swati. "Canadian Domestic Violence Policy and Indian Immigrant Women." Violence Against Women 10, no. 8 (2004): 860-79. This article is based on exploratory research on the cultural constraints that Indian immigrant women face in accessing the benefits of Canadian policies for women experiencing domestic abuse. Findings from Ontario expose the pressures of cultural, social, and family ties that prevent these women from getting necessary help for domestic violence, and are compared to the context of domestic violence and the women’s movement in India. The article points out that women bear the “double pressure of abuse and threat of deportation when the police are involved,” and “fear racism and racial discrimination from the police and others” (869). The article also points out that the majority (80%) of the beneficiaries of subsidized housing by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) are Canadian born, and that many Indian women interviewed do not think positively about shelters and subsidized housing.

Smith, Ekuwa. "Nowhere to Turn? Responding to Partner Violence against Immigrant and Visible Minority Women." Ottawa, ON: Canadian Council on Social Development, 2004. Available from http://www.ccsd.ca/pubs/pubcat/nw.htm PDF This report was produced by the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD), submitted to the Department of Justice, Sectoral Involvement in Departmental Policy Development, and was based on focus groups with frontline workers from community organizations in seven cities (Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax). This report highlights the importance of social, cultural and systemic barriers that hinder immigrant and visible minority women from seeking and obtaining the supports they need. Key findings include the need for comprehensive, coordinated and culturally appropriate strategies to reach out to immigrant and visible minority women in Canada who are abused by their husbands or partners. It emphasizes the importance of providing information on Canadian laws, rights and services to immigrants in their own language, providing culturally sensitive services, improving and coordinating access to crisis programs and longer-term interventions, stabilizing funding for immigrant settlement and ethno-cultural service agencies, and engaging in education and equity strategies to reduce discrimination, stereotyping and marginalization of immigrant and visible minority communities to prevent partner abuse.

Sokoloff, Natalie J. and Ida Dupont. “Domestic Violence at the Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender: Challenges and Contributions to Understanding Violence Against Marginalized Women in Diverse Communities.” Violence Against Women 11, no. 1 (2005): 38-64. PDF This article provides a comprehensive review of the emerging domestic violence literature using a race, class, gender, sexual orientation intersectional analysis and structural framework fostered by women of color and their allies to understand the experiences and contexts of domestic violence for marginalized women in US society. It lays out a series of challenges that an intersectional analysis grounded in a structural framework provides for understanding the role of culture in domestic violence and points to major contributions of

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such an approach to feminist methods and practices in working with women experiencing violence on the margins of society.

Status of Women Canada. "Sponsorship... For Better or for Worse: The Impact of Sponsorship on the Equality Rights of Immigrant Women." 246. Ottawa, Ontario, 2001. Available from http://publications.gc.ca/pub?id=293775&sl=0 PDF Funded by the Status of Women Canada’s Policy Research Fund and the Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS) in Toronto. The report criticizes the detrimental effects of the “sponsorship regime,” a constellation of various laws, regulations and guidelines from the federal and provincial governments defining sponsorship, the obligations of sponsored persons and their sponsors.” It discusses misunderstandings of sponsorship, integration barriers, and spousal maltreatment, and concludes that sponsorship “poses the question of the responsibility of the family to ensure the well-being and the socio-economic security of its members in relation to the state.” The report finds that given “the fact that sponsorship involves the undertaking of responsibility for women by the spouse, the fact that the application for permanent residence may be refused if the spouse withdraws his sponsorship and the fact that the access of sponsored women to social assistance is limited by provincial regulations (and remains so for the entire duration of the sponsorship, even after citizenship has been obtained), mean that the equality rights of women immigrants are being violated. Indeed, our research revealed that the sponsorship regime has a discriminatory effect on immigrant women who are sponsored by their husbands in that it exacerbates their unequal status within the marriage, diminishes their dignity and degree of independence, aggravates existing socio- economic disadvantages and violates their most basic human rights.” Based on the legal analysis of the impact of sponsorship, as well as comments and suggestions from sponsored women themselves, the report discusses the Quebec and American models. The Quebec model reduced the sponsorship period from 10 years to 3 years, but did not address issues concerning the withdrawal of sponsorship, the exclusion of sponsored women from undertaking sponsorship agreements and from the sponsorship application process, and the sponsored women’s restricted access to welfare. The American model under VAWA, allows self-petitioning for immigrants who are victims of conjugal violence and are in the US without status. It does not apply to all sponsored immigrant women, resulting in not only a problematic hierarchy of “deserving” vs. “undeserving” immigrants but also promotes a policy that remedies the effects of violence after it has taken place, without calling into question the basic structure of the sponsorship undertaking. Instead, the report recommends, among others: 1) reducing the duration of the sponsorship undertaking (as in the Quebec model), 2) ensuring that sponsored women have access to social assistance in case of sponsorship breakdown, 3) ensuring protection against withdrawal of sponsorship (or threats) by considering humanitarian grounds over criteria of financial autonomy, 4) allowing the rescinding of the sponsorship undertaking in cases of conjugal violence so that a sponsored women does not have to maintain contact with the abusive sponsor, and 5) respecting the rights of low-income people to family reunification.

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The BC Institute Against Family Violence. "Assisting Immigrant and Refugee Women Abused by Their Sponsors: A Guide for Service Providers." Vancouver, 2003. Available from http://www.bcifv.org (website no longer available) The Guide was produced by the BC Institute against Family Violence (BCIFV) with funding by the BC Ministry of Multiculturalism and Immigration through its Anti-Racism and Multiculturalism Program. The guide features more than 10 scenarios of women experiencing violence, such as sponsored fiancée, women with an in-Canada sponsorship application in progress, women applying for convention refugee status, women with children and with no permanent resident status, etc. Due to the technical and changing nature of legal information, it is unlikely that this guide from 2003 contains reliable information. To be useful, a guide like this would have to be updated constantly. The scenarios are nonetheless helpful in demonstrating how people interact with policies, illustrating how actual policies affect real life situations.

Wathen, C. Nadine, and Harriet L. MacMillan. "Interventions for Violence against Women: Scientific Review." Journal of American Medical Association 289, no. 5 (2003): 589-600. Intimate partner violence is prevalent and is associated with significant impairment, yet it remains unclear as to which interventions, if any, reduce rates of abuse. There is no mention of immigrant or refugee women.

Wolf, Marsha E., Victoria L. Holt, Mary A. Kernic, and Frederick P. Rivara. "Who Gets Protection Orders for Intimate Partner Violence?" American Journal of Preventive Medicine 19, no. 4 (2000): 286-91. This large-scale Seattle-based study by a group of epidemiologists found that financial independence and abuse of family or friends are important factors associated with the decision to seek a protection order in intimate partner violence. Victims who obtained protection orders were more likely than victims without protection orders to be employed full- time, be pregnant, be married, aged over 24, and less likely to be involved with the perpetrator at the incident of violence. Interestingly, it also found that women who sought protection orders were less likely to be physically assaulted or injured, but more likely to have family members or friends physically assaulted.

Wolf, Marsha E., Uyen Ly, Margaret A. Hobart, and Mary A. Kernic. "Barriers to Seeking Police Help for Intimate Partner Violence " Journal of Family Violence 18, no. 2 (2003): 121-29. Based on a study utilizing focus groups in the Seattle area, the researchers categorized the many barriers for victims into three themes: 1) predisposing characteristics—situational and personal factors; 2) fears and negative experiences with police abuse; and 3) fears of possible repercussions. The study also list what the victims described as “positive experiences with police,” and suggests policy changes for the police and social service agencies in addressing the barriers in seeking police help. For example, it recommends modifying police policies, conducting police training in addressing violence against women, and the creation of an easy to use on-call system with professional interpreters to address

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the language barrier for non-English-speaking victims. Ongoing training of police officers is also advised to address cultural sensitivity for immigrant populations, racial/ethnic minorities, and lesbian populations. More specifically, the article suggests that there be a shift in thinking concerning the police’s use of the “cozying up” technique with the perpetrators as this often gives the appearance of “male bonding” between the perpetrator and the police, and decreases the victim’s trust in the police officer.

Yick, Alice G. "Feminist Theory and Status Inconsistency Theory: Application to Domestic Violence in Chinese Immigrant Families." Violence Against Women 7, no. 5 (2001): 545-62. PDF The article examines feminist and “status inconsistency” theories and their application to domestic violence in Chinese immigrant families. The feminist approach is defined as a perspective, which maintains that gender inequality in society is the root of all forms of violence against women. Status inconsistency theory as an approach, suggests that violence is more likely to occur when an individual’s status is inconsistent with new norms or when standard norms governing the family become ambiguous. For Chinese immigrant families, status inconsistency theory addresses the impact on the marriage or family resulting from the cultural transition of immigration, downward economic mobility, racial discrimination, and the lack of proficiency in the English language.

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